Saturday, June 2, 2012

A Summer Challenge

The dresden plate is my kind of block. Uber-traditional and perfectly beautiful in all its vintage goodness. And yet, so open to interpretation. There are an endless number of ways to make a dresden unique. And it's so darn easy to transform this block into something very modern. It never ceases to amaze me that something so traditional still looks fresh and of-the-moment, right here in the 21st century.

Enter the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild's EZ Dresden Challenge. Have you heard about this yet? The Salt Lake MQG is helping Simplicity and a boatload of other sponsors celebrate Darlene Zimmerman's twentieth year of designing rulers, by highlighting the versatility of the dresden. So you'll be seeing a lot of dresden quilts this summer—and there are some insane prizes on the line for the best of the bunch. Including a new Singer sewing machine!

So here's my take on the dresden plate: my "Lifesavers" mini-quilt. No centers to applique, no points to make—just stripey rings.

I got hooked on the idea of fussy-cutting my dresden wedges, but I didn't want to do something that required yards and yards of fabric just to make a few blocks. I thought about using chevron fabric, but the scale wasn't quite right. Then it hit me: Stripes! So easy to fussy-cut—I just cut my wedges from vertical strips of fabric, lining the ruler up with the stripes.

I ended up using one yard of Michael Miller's Bungalow Stripe in Citron
(that one yard made all of these blocks). Since it's a variegated stripe, every set of wedges I cut looked a little different. I turned both the top and bottom raw edges under before I pieced the wedges together, which made it super easy to applique the finished plates onto the blocks—I just stitched them down with a straight stitch. I finished it by quilting with easy-peasey wavy line quilting. (I didn't bother cutting out the background fabric from behind the dresdens after they were stitched down. I know that might be technically "wrong," but it didn't seem to effect my quilting.)

So, are you up for this challenge? Just make a quilt using the EZ Dresden ruler (or any 18-degree wedge ruler). It doesn't even have to be a dresden—there are lots of other things you can do with wedges, too! There are three categories for entries: Mini-quilts, traditional designs, and innovative designs. You've got all summer to work on your entry—just link up your finished quilt on the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild website the week of September 1. The top three for each category will win some amazing prizes. Up for grabs are a Singer sewing machine, a photo of your project in Quilting Arts magazine, a quilt made by Darlene Zimmerman herself, and tons fabric, rulers, and thread! There will be three random-draw prizes as well. Click here for more contest details.

And to get you started, I've got an EZ Dresden ruler to give away to one winner right now! Just leave any comment on this post, and I'll draw a random winner on Tuesday.

Keep following the EZ Dresden Challenge Blog Hop over the next two weeks for lots more inspiration to get you started on your own entry! Good luck!

Ooooh! I like your Lifesavers dresden. This is a very cool way to use the rulers. I also love that you have different colors in your background fabric. It's a subtle difference, but it ads so much depth! Very cool :-D

What a clever way to use stripes! I love the idea of turning under the tops and bottoms before sewing them togethe--shoot, you should even be able to sew & flip quiting as you go ...gotta try this. Thanks!

I have to admit that I am not always in love with the dresden quilts I typically see. Maybe because I often see them done in very traditional fabrics with scalloped edges, but I really love your version and the way that you played with the stripes! It feels very contemporary to me.

What a brilliant idea to use striped fabric! Your design is so wonderful! I've been so intimidated by the dresden design and have never attempted it...but the ruler makes it looks much easier! Thanks for a chance to win.

As I was reading your post, I was thinking I need to find where to get that ruler and then saw the giveaway. Of course, I'll still probably have to find a place to get the ruler but thanks for the chance. Love your fun quilt!

Wow! You are so right about your Dresden looking modern. The stripe was a great idea. Actually your entire post was full of great ideas about making this easy. I love the tip about turning the raw edges under before piecing.

wow thats soo creeepy! I have had Dresden plates on my mind all week and have been playing around with ideas, looking at other people's examples and yesterday started to pull out fabrics, I guess its meant to be!

I've always thought that Dresden blocks were super difficult to make. Lately I've seen blog posts that seem to challenge that idea. I would love to win a ruler and try them out and see for myself. Thanks for the chance at your giveaway.

I have a dresden ruler, not sure if it's thae same one. I love your verticle stipes. It might be fun to mix the plates from verticle to horzontal placed stripes. Hmmm, I think the LQS has stripes on sale this month.

Ooo. I have to admit, I've been rather intimidated by the idea of a Dresden, but something as simple as that ruler makes it a little less so. I think I'll go wishlist one of those just in case I don't win!

Great idea to turn those edges under before sewing them together. I have a set of "OLD" Dresden plates that need to be set on an background- would that qualify as a Project for this Challenge? If not then I NEED this ruler. Thanks for teaching this old quilter a new trick.

I have never seen a dresden-inspired quilt quite like your lifesavers - it is really striking! I would love to play around with the Dresden ruler and see what I could come up with. Thank you for the chance to win!

Love your lifesaver quilt & the tip @ turning under the edges before stitching. I love modern color treatments, but tend toward traditional... Hoping to move into more modern applications. This quilt really helps open my imagination.... Thanks. Thanks for the chance to win too!

This design is so danged cool, Lee! You're just too smart to have thought of using stripes to make such an effective, eye-popping quilt. I like it a lot. But darn. I still don't have a sewing machine to use. I'm in withdrawal! We're moving into our new house June 23, and that new Bernina will be one of the first things out of the box. Then, watch this gal sew! Thanks for the chance to win the ruler. You're a peach.

i love this!!!! in quilters terms that means i want to make this really badly. no wonder i have a zillion projects unfinished. i keep getting sidetracked by so many wonderful things to sew. thanks for sharing janita

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